Better than I feared.
In fact, I was quite taken with the beginning of the book. I enjoyed how Bella was introduced, and how she actually seemed to have some amount of depth to her character. I liked the account of her first few days at school.
Eventually, though, when the "let's define our relationship" phase started, I lost a little interest - there seemed to be too little conflict for me... others have told me that they really liked the "relationship" part. Maybe I'm not enough of a 12-year-old girl.

I was on the lookout for the "degrading" and "demeaning" stuff I often hear commented on, and I just didn't find it - given the situation, I thought Bella's attitude towards Edward made perfect sense, although there was a bit of a turn torward the end that I'm not so sure about.

Other than that, what to say? The actions and attitudes of the high schoolers didn't feel quite right to me - a little juvenile. It's almost like Meyer is writing a book about high schoolers that's aimed at the juniour high set. And maybe she is.
In any event, it's an easy and fun read, and I didn't have a bad time.

Oh, and I'm enjoying talking about the book with Emily to continue on with the series. For now.